Surface Lures For Windy Days

[NoBassPro]

Was out today with my boy in winds that went up to about 30 mph, and just wondered what surface lures you guys prefer when it gets some decent chop on the water, its a little harder to see and work the baits, but it sure doesn't keep the fish from biting. Anyway, my surface lure collection is pretty minimal, so just looking for some ideas.

Oh, and my boy caught his first legal sized bass today. Took a little help to get him in, and he got so excited he tried reeling the thing through the rod tip, but man it sure is fun to take a kid fishing and see the excitement again.

[Bluebasser86]

Spook or Super Spook can be great on windy days and still cast very easily in the wind.

[OkobojiEagle]

Propeller baits (baby torpedo), but I prefer the Rapala Flat Rap worked aggressively just under the surface.

oe

[deaknh03]

I recently had good luck with a roumba on a windy day.

[Primus]

I like the 316 wake junior or a large popper that spits a lot of water.

[fishking247]

magnum rebel pop-r!

[SirSnookalot]

My go to top water is a Mirrorlure Papa Dog, I catch the most fish with it probably because I use it the most. I can pop it and walk it, casts great and IMO comes with the best hooks I have used.

[deep]

Big wakebaits. That's the (Steve P.'s) theory anyway.

[iceintheveins]

Rapala Skitterprop, Heddon Baby or Magnum Torpedo, Cotton Cordell Crazy Shad

[NoBassPro]

Big wakebaits. That's the (Steve P.'s) theory anyway.

Big wakebaits. That's the (Steve P.'s) theory anyway.

Who is Steve P?

[gobig]

Who is Steve P?

He is a fairly well known swimbait guy.

I like the 9in M.S. Slammer and the 8in floating BBZ in the wind.

[Jay Ell Gee]

Rapala Skitterprop, Heddon Baby or Magnum Torpedo, Cotton Cordell Crazy Shad

I would pass on the skitterpop recommendation. Those lures are made of balsa and won't cast worth a flip in the wind. Ask me how I know, lol.

Academy makes some H2O express poppers with rattles that absolutely tear fish up. They cast like a frog, and have much better hook up ratios, lol. You can also walk it. The constant spit will make a lot of commotion!

[deep]

Who is Steve P?

Yes, Steve P is Steve Pagliughi. He posts under the username "urban" on SBNation. Google "Wakebait Fishing The Time is Now" if you want to read the article I was thinking about.

[OkobojiEagle]

My suggestion of the Flat Rap was my subtle way of saying that fishing a foot or two SUBSURFACE in a heavy chop condition is more productive than fishing a floating surface bait. A buzzbait may be an exception to this statement.

oe

[NoBassPro]

My suggestion of the Flat Rap was my subtle way of saying that fishing a foot or two SUBSURFACE in a heavy chop condition is more productive than fishing a floating surface bait. A buzzbait may be an exception to this statement.

oe

Hard to fish doesn't mean unproductive, fish can key in on baits much better than we give them credit for imo

Using that day as an example, I took my boy to a place that is loaded with small (10-18") bass that also has a couple musky. Well, two that use that bay. When they didn't show after a couple passes I decided to join my boy in catching some bass. He was picking up a few dragging a finesse worm around, but in the full list of baits I went through, a torpedo produced the most consistent bite. What may be true most of the time is not going to be true all of the time.

[OkobojiEagle]

NoPro... Tell me some more about the water and conditions you were fishing.

I fish in windmill alley. The winds blow from North Dakota, south through the Missouri River basin and across the plains of southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. At 15 mph sustained winds I start to anchor more than use my trolling motor. At 20 mph the lakes are pretty much covered with white caps breaking on 2' swells. Plastics become next to impossible to control and floating top water presentations spend most of their time sub surface in the white caps. At 30 mph winds it will be all I can do to stay in the boat. In those conditions I know of a couple die hard muskie hunters that will troll big plugs, but even in their 20' Rangers they're not having much fun.

As I wrote above, when the water gets really choppy I find bass fishing more productive working a shallow running jerkbait or a 1/2 oz spinnerbait.

oe

[papajoe222]

I love fishing a Spook and will go with a SuperPook or Jr. in murky water, or at night. On windy days, fishing open water, I too, shy away from surface baits and go with a spinnerbait fished just under the surface to four ft. under. If, and only if, I'm target fishing I'll go with a prop bait. The more chop there is, the more, or bigger props I use. A mag. Torpedo is easier to cast than say a twin prop cigar style like a Smithwick Devil'sHorse and a WoodChopper spits more water than the Torpedo. If the fish are hammering any of those baits shortly after or before I pause them, I'm going with a buzzer and covering a lot of targets quickly.

[NoBassPro]

NoPro... Tell me some more about the water and conditions you were fishing.

I fish in windmill alley. The winds blow from North Dakota, south through the Missouri River basin and across the plains of southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. At 15 mph sustained winds I start to anchor more than use my trolling motor. At 20 mph the lakes are pretty much covered with white caps breaking on 2' swells. Plastics become next to impossible to control and floating top water presentations spend most of their time sub surface in the white caps. At 30 mph winds it will be all I can do to stay in the boat. In those conditions I know of a couple die hard muskie hunters that will troll big plugs, but even in their 20' Rangers they're not having much fun.

As I wrote above, when the water gets really choppy I find bass fishing more productive working a shallow running jerkbait or a 1/2 oz spinnerbait.

oe

We were fishing in 1-2 foot chop, far from the worst I've been in, and pretty much standard for musky surface lures.